Display stand



Aug. 23, 1938.

. w. E. THOMA$ DISPLAY STAND Filed Feb. 24, 1957 I/V/LL/HM E. THO/m5; M

Patented Aug. 23, 1938 UNITED STATES DISPLAY STAND William E. Thomas,Charlotte, N. 0., assignor to Lance Packing Company, Charlotte, N. acorporation of North Carolina Application February 24, 1937, Serial No.127,492

2 Claims. (0]. 312-162) This invention relates to a shelf or displaystand and more especially to one which may be detachably secured tolunch counters, refrigerators and the like, without marring the surfaceof the refrigerator or bottle cooler, to provide additional space uponwhich drinks, food stuffs and the like may be displayed.

My invention is particularly adaptable for use upon refrigerating boxesfor bottled beverages which are usually constructed of metal.

It is therefore, an object of this invention to provide a detachableshelf for lunch counters, cold drink boxes and the like, which may beplaced in clamped relation to said box to furnish the additional shelfspace.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a shelf of the classdescribed with clamping means associated with said shelf which willclamp the shelf to one end of a suitable counter H9 or refrigeratorwithout the necessity of penetrating or disturbing any portion of saidcounter. In the present instance, this securing means comprises a pairof cuff members, each of which has a pair of hook portions integraltherewith,

said hook portions being adapted to engage a leg of the box and abeveled leg of the shelf respectively. The beveled leg furnishes theclamping effect and the brackets are secured to the legs when the partsare in the desired position, whereas, the other hook portion on eachbracket merely engages the edges of the box but is not secured thereto.

It is another object of this invention to provide a display stand whichis adapted to be secured to one end of a cabinet having a bulgingportion so that the shelf of the display stand rests on the upper edgeof the bulge and the legs of the stand are disposed on each side of thebulge and are clamped to the legs of the 40 cabinet, the bulgepreventing downward or lateral movement of the display stand when thesame is clamped to the cabinet.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the 45 description proceeds when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawing, in which:-

Figure 1 is an isometric View of a cold drink box showing my inventionsecured to one end thereof;

50 Figure 2 is a sectional, detail, plan view taken along line 2-2 inFigure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 33 in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken 55 along line 4-4 in Figure1;

Figure 5 is an isometric view of one of the clamping collars used tosecure the shelf in position upon a suitable refrigerating box;

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional detail View taken along line 6-6 inFigure 1. I '5 Referring more specifically to the drawing, the

numeral I0 denotes a suitable refrigerating box which is adapted tocontain bottled beverages and the like, said box having end walls I land hinged top doors I2 which practically cover the 10 entire topportion thereof. The ends of the box bulge outwardly over a substantialportion thereof, leaving vertically disposed depressions I3 and top andbottom depressions M. It frequently occurs that this box It] ispositioned at a point 15 where a shelf is not available and since thetop doors l2 cover the entire top portion thereof, it is necessary toprovide additional shelf room where the drinks may be placed after beingremoved from the refrigerator, or the shelf may 0 be used as a displaystand. Therefore, a detachable display stand has been provided whichcomprises a horizontally disposed shelf 15 which has its ends secured tostrips l6 and H, which strips, in turn, are secured to downwardlyextending legs l8 and I 9 respectively. It will be noted that the shelfI5 has its ends disposed a short distance below the top edges of thelegs l8 and I9. This forms suitable ledges at each end of the shelf IEto prevent bottles or objects being 30 displayed from being shoved offthe top of the shelf. Additional ledge pieces 20 and 2| are provided onthe other edges of the shelf for the same purpose.

Very often the box 10 is constructed of such material such aslithographed metal so that it is not desired to mar the appearancethereof by inserting screws in the sidewalls or legs of the box tosecure the display stand thereto. Very often this box is constructed ofsheet metal or steel which make it very difiicult to penetrate the same,therefore, I have provided brackets 23 which are adapted to clamp thedisplay stand in the desired position at one end of the cabinet or boxwithout the necessity of using any nails or screws for penetrating therefrigerator cabinet or box itself. Both of these collars or clamps areidentical and a description of one will be made and like referencecharacters, will be given to like parts on the other collar. The collar23 has a hook portion 24 integral therewith, which, when placed inposition, is adapted to fit directly behind the inturned edge 25 of theleg extending downward from portion ll of the box. The member 23 hasanother outstanding lip portion 26 integral therewith which fits uponthe beveled surface 21 of the downstanding leg I8. Therefore, it is seenthat in order to clamp the legs 18 and IS in depressions I3, it is onlynecessary to move the collars 23 upwardly and by virtue of the beveledouter surface 21 the two parts will be drawn closetogether. When this isdone suitable wood screws 28 and 29 are inserted through holes 30 and 3|respectively, the ends of said screws penetrating the lower portion oflegs I8 and IS.

The inner edge of shelf l5 fits in depression [4 and this prevents theweight of articles on the shelf from forcing the display standdownwardly, which might occur if friction between the stand and thecabinet were relied upon.

It is thus seen that I have provided a detachable display stand forcabinets, refrigerators and the like, which will furnish the desiredextra space and which can be secured to the counter or box withoutmarring the surfaces thereof.

In the drawing and specification, there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not forpurposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth inthe appended claims, in which I claim:

1. A cabinet and display stand attached thereto, said cabinet having anend wall provided with depressions along its outer edges and along itsupper edge, said display stand comprising a shelf and a pair of legs,one edge of the shelf fitting in the depression along the upper edge ofthe cabinet and the legs fitting in the depressions along the outervertical edges of the cabinet and a pair of clamps engaging said legsand said cabinet for securing the display stand to the cabinet.

2, A bottle refrigerator and display stand attached thereto, saidrefrigerator having an end portion provided with a bulging centralportion, said display stand having a shelf, one edge of which issupported by said bulging central portion and also having a pair ofdownwardly tapering vertically disposed spaced legs, the legs beingpositioned on each side of the bulging portion, and a pair of clampsslidable upwardly on the legs and engaging the refrigerator for securingthe legs to the refrigerator solely by clamping action.

WILLIAM E. THOMAS.

